Secret to 20 years of KIIT-KISS excellence: Student-centric culture

Apart from high brand value, what distinguishes KIIT is its student-centric culture, which has been enabling its students to achieve big. Established in 1992 and opened five years later as a multi-disciplinary institute, KIIT's commitment to teaching excellence led to the grant of Deemed to be University status under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956 in 2004 and 'A' category university status in 2015 by the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Govt. of India. Maintaining a tradition of excellence, KIIT has been getting 'A' Grade from NAAC, the country's top accreditation body for higher education institutions, for three times in a row and 'Tier 1' (Washington Accord) from NBA.

  In a major boost to the brand value of KIIT globally, B.Tech programmes have got the coveted Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK accreditation. Despite being relatively young (20 years as an institute and 14 years as a university), KIIT has secured 250th position in the QS BRICS World University Rankings for 2018.

It is the first self-financing Deemed to be University in Odisha and eastern India to enter into this prestigious ranking.

  Above all, students draw motivation from the life of sacrifice and dedication to humanity of Prof. Achyuta Samanta, who converted his childhood struggle and hardship into his strength and single-handedly established KIIT and Kalinga Institute of Social Science (KISS), a free residential institute for 37,000 (including 10000 alumni) tribal students, with only Rs. 5000. Students see him as a role model, drawing happiness and imbibing the values of ethical conduct, morality and compassion. Recently KISS has been declared a Deemed to be University by the Ministry of HRD, Govt. of India, making it the first tribal university (fully free and fully residential) in India and the entire world. Remarkably, KISS has featured in two very popular textbooks used in introductory anthropology and cultural anthropology courses in United States of America (USA). 

  Notwithstanding its scale, KISS has been receiving accolades for caring for the environment. It recently won the 'Energy Globe World Award -2017' as the one and only organization from India. Regarded as the most important award in the field of environment, KISS got the award for green initiatives undertaken, beating stiff competition from as many as 178 countries.

  Students of KIIT & KISS get unmatched exposure by attending and interacting with eminent academicians, legal luminaries, corporate leaders, policy makers and scientists, who come to attend numerous academic conferences, seminars and workshops organized round the year. Last year four Nobel Laureates Including HH Dalai Lama, Professor Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Winner 2006, Prof. Hiroshi Amano, Nobel Laureate in Physics (2014), Japan and Prof. Erwin Neher, Nobel laureate in Physiology or Medicine 1991, Germany visited KIIT & KISS  and delivered talks under Nobel Lecture Series and KIIT Knowledge Tree, which are unique initiatives to provide exposure to students.

  Last year, M Venkaiah Naidu, Vice President of India delivered convocation address at the 13th Convocation Ceremony of KIIT.